[Paigelass]

Hello! I’m new to the bottle calf world, this is my 4th baby although my 3rd one had some underlying medical issues that caused him to have seizures and he unfortunately didn’t make it. My first 2 were a breeze but this little girl is proving to be difficult! My fiancé works for a farmer and on Friday February 24th they moved cows from one pasture to another. This little girl was left behind. They thought they knew which pasture she belonged in so they moved her the following day but no cows claimed her. We took her in Tuesday and gave her a bottle which she took happily. Wednesday morning we gave her another bottle with no issues. Another farm hand said she belonged with a different group of cows and took her into the pasture where she stayed over night but again, nobody claimed her. Thursday night, Friday morning, and Friday night she took a bottle and was eager to eat. Saturday I went out to feed her in the morning before leaving town for the day and she refused the bottle. I had to make her stand up and she was shivering. We had to leave so my friend came and checked on her around lunch time, she had warmed up and even ran away from my friend but refused to eat. My friend came back over at dinner time and she was eager to drink half a bottle (a bottle calf group said she was probably being overfed with a full bottle bc she’s small so we bumped her down to half). We adjusted her sleeping situation to keep her warm at night. This morning I went out and fed her and she sucked it down but then tonight she was back to not being interested. I’ve noticed her stiffening up, arching her back, throwing her head, and pinning her ears back a couple times. Her stool smells awful and was dark brown, kind of pebble like, with some mucus. I don’t know if she’s constipated or has an intestinal parasite/bacteria? Our thermometer it broken so I haven’t gotten a chance to get her temp. She isn’t acting lethargic and has been running and kicking the air when I’ve gone over. I haven’t noticed her kicking her stomach but she is throwing her head around quite a bit.